and we are BACK

So it's been awhile since we've made a post. A lot has happened, school related. But now that we are wrapping up the winter quarter (I am now currently in the Library working on a research paper that I started on Sunday, but was given half the quarter to work on. It was due at 2:00 PM but my professor gave me an extension... yet I still find some way to do something other than work on this damn paper......so much for second chances) anyway now that we are wrapping up the winter quarter, you will be seeing more blog posts. :) Etheline is going to Mexico, so hopefuly she will be able to reccount some of her experiences on here.

Anyway, I was inspired to post after reading the most recent posting from Angry Asian Man.

Lori Phanachone, a Laotian high school senior at Storm Lake high school, born and raised in the states, has a 3.9 GPA, ranks seven in her class of 119 and has been offered numerous college scholarships has been asked to take a language tests for all ELL/ESL (English Language Learner or English Second Language) Students simply because on her school registration she indicated that English was not her first language. She has never been in an ELL or ESL course.

English is not my first language either, mandarin was. But while growing up in American (white) public schools, I just lost interest in maintaining my mandarin and now I can only speak broken mandarin. So broken to the point an older chinese women told me that my chinese was bad. anyway...

As angryasianman points out, engligh not being the first language spoken in the household is common for second generation asian americans.

But I found this story to be incredibly inspiring to hear about a young asian american girl who knows her rights and is speaking out for them.

Go Lori!!

To Support Lori:

Paul Tedesco, Storm Lake School District Superintendent: http://www.apaforprogress.org/ptedesco@slcsd.org
Teresa Coenen, Storm Lake High School Principal: http://www.apaforprogress.org/tcoenen@slcsd.org

Gina Loring

PORN PORN PORN PORN

The documentary, "Price of Pleasure" which deconstructs the the porn industry, is available online to watch for FREE. A phenomenal and much needed documentary that I discovered on THIS blog that everyone should look through! they have some good stuff on there!!!

Some favorite quotes from the film...
"Pornography, that which we call a fanstasy in the porn industry is then what we experience in the real world."
From a team of lawyers who work for "sanctuary for families", an organization that legally advocates for DV survivors and their children: " in 70% of the cases involving sexual abuse, pornography is involved."
"The pornographers want you to think after you're done watching porn, you can just zip up your pants, then zip that part of your brain away to proceed with your life, but it doesn't work like that, that part of your brain leaks into every aspect of your life. Porn infiltrates into your consciousness unwantingly."

the film also brought up an incredibly important case, In 2002, Ashcroft vs. Freespeech ammended the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 (which banned child pornography) to allow the simulation of child pornography. So basically visually convincing the audience that a 40 year old man is fucking a 9 year old girl while she's enjoying it is perfectly fine as long as in "real life" its just an 18year old girl who looks 9.

It's an incredibly powerful film.

"Pornography takes violence against women and sexualizes it, when you sexualize violence against women you render the violence invisible."

oh, and check this out!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99838343

I should have posted a month ago, but Olives' posts were so cool that I took it easy for awhile. Anyway, I'm back now to write about what's been on my mind lately.

Today I read in the news that the Pope has decided to lift the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson, a holocaust denier. Well, a holocaust half-denier I guess, who believes that "two to three hundred thousand Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps but none of them by gas chambers." The article doesn't make it clear exactly why he was excommunicated and is now being reinstated, but I get the sense neither one has to do with his beliefs regarding the holocaust. Of course commentators and spokespeople from Israel have already spoken out about the damage this will do to the Catholic church's relationship with Israel and the Jewish community. So, um, why did the church do this? I don't fucking know. But if we don't start respecting each other soon (not just Catholics and Jews, but everyone) what is going to happen? Hundreds and hundreds of kids died in Gaza this month. But actually, 5,000 kids die of preventable diseases every day. We're in a really weird place and beyond even caring about each other or loving each other, we don't even respect one another's lives. And how do we heal from that?

There is another interesting news story today. 700 immigrants held in detention on the Italian island, Lampedusa have escaped and are holding a protest chanting "Freedom" and "Help us!" They were in a detention center built for 850 that is currently holding 1,800 people. It is so overcrowded that detaineed were being forced to sleep outside in the cold at night. The island is in between Africa and Italy and gets a lot of immigrants from Somalia and Eritrea fleeing wars and poverty. They used to allow the immigrants to go to mainland Italy, but have now stopped that program despite the fact that this tiny island got nearly 40,000 immigrants coming to its shores in 2008. Luckily local residents are opposing the building of a new facility that they worry would be more like a prison. Anyway, best luck to the escaped detainees! Freedom!

Zion I - Make U Fly

The Girl Effect

"70% of the world's out of school children are girls."

-The Girl Effect